Officer Rescues Man From Apartment Fire

A 34 year-old Kalamazoo man was rescued from an apartment fire, early Sunday morning, by a Kalamazoo Public Safety officer.

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety received a call, at 7:29 AM, alerting authorities of the blaze in the 1500 block of Portage Street. Officer Amir Khillah, first to arrive on the scene, witnessed the heavy smoke billowing from the apartment and feared for the safety of any potential occupants. He forced the door open and began to search the residence. The officer located the resident unresponsive on the couch. Officer Khillah carried the victim out of the blaze and turned him over to fellow responding officers.

KDPS officers, who also act as fire fighters, conducted an interior attack on the fire, which was mainly located in the kitchen, and managed to extinguish it within 10 minutes.

The apartment was not equipped with smoke detectors; however the neighboring apartment did have working detectors which alerted the neighbor who called 911. Authorities believe that this allowed officers to rescue her neighbor and extinguish the fire before it spread.

The rescued man and Officer Khillah were examined by Life EMS and released on scene. No other occupants of the apartment building were injured.

Do to the damage sustained in the fire, the apartment building has been condemned until repairs can be made. Arraignments have been made to relocate the occupants of the four apartments.